Thursday, August 18, 2011

Even the ladies are doing it

Video footage of a group of teenage girls savagely attacking a woman in Philly. It seems that city has seen the most use of the teen mob attack.

My takeaways from the half of the video that I was able to watch are: 1) the victim noted that she heard the attackers coming up behind her, and said that she is vigilant about being aware of her surroundings; 2) By the time she turned around, the attack was already initiated; 3) She was on the ground immediately.

To address the first takeaway - being aware of your surroundings is paramount to your safety. The consensus is that picking up on an attack and avoiding it is the best option, and will have a better outcome than a fight and/or shooting your attacker(s). With that said, you cannot count on vigilance to always win the day, so be prepared.

On the second takeaway, even if you spot an attack before it happens, you may not be able to prevent it regardless, so be prepared.

Third takeaway - learn to fight on the ground. Most physical fights end up on the ground anyways, and I am as guilty as any about doing my practice shooting while standing. Most of that has to do with where I shoot; I can shoot safely with a handgun or rifle from a bench, but not up at a target while I'm on the ground. Shooting school is where you would learn the techniques. I would imagine that it's difficult to get a gun into play while a group of people kick you in the head while you're on the ground, but it's a probability that could happen, so be prepared.

Also, just because attackers are female does not mean that they aren't capable of inflicting severe or fatal injuries. A girl can end your life just as easy as boy or man, especially when you're on your ass in a parking lot and there's six of em'.

4 comments:

Drew said...

what the hell is going on in philly? seems like it turned into the brooklyn zoo all of a sudden. did they change city policy to include pcp in the water supply?

Broken Andy said...

Downtown Philly has always had problems. I guess letting homeless people defecate on the sidewalk sorta teaches everybody else that rules don't really matter... so what the hell, beat the shit out of the weak.

One aspect I like about Judo is that the first thing we are taught is how to fall so that you can get back up quickly. Knocking somebody to the ground only to have them pop back up unhurt can be demotivating.

Drew said...

if you like that you should look into krav maga, they teach you how to fight off people from the ground AND on the ground. very cool stuff

Broken Andy said...

Judo has techniques for defending yourself while on the ground as well as grappling, as do the other Asian martial arts.

I did originally look for a Krav Maga school, but there was nothing worthwhile in my area. However, I did find a really good Judo/Karate school.